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So I decided to sign up for the 3 month free offer above. I thought I called the number listed on their website - 1-888-825-2557 - instead I dialed 1-800-825-2557. Someone answered and proceeded to ask me questions about my account. They asked me what kind of receiver I had, whether I had internet access, a home security system..at that point I stopped them. They said they were authorized to make it worthwhile for me to switch to DIRECT. I explained that I wanted to add HBO&Starz for three months free to my Dish account and she said they were a third party DIRECT rep. They acknowledged I called the right number and offered to transfer me to Dish once I told her I wanted to stay with Dish. She then transferred me - to a 3rd party DIRECT provider.....

I hung up and called Dish on the regular number...got India and they signed me up for the 3 month promotion. I told them what happened. She apologized and said she was aware this was happening.

It wasn't DirecTV, it was an independent retailer. There's always some shady retailers in any large organization, and this is a classic shady tactic.

I went to a Dish house one time for a DirecTV install. Lady let me in, confirmed the work order (upgrading to HD-DVR and HD receiver), told me where the old dishes were, etc. I'm in a DirecTV shirt and hat with a DirecTV sign on my truck that was visible from the front door. I brought in boxes with huge DirecTV logos on them and set them down where the old receivers were. After spending two hours doing the install and activating the receivers, I went to show her how to use the remote, and only THEN did she realize that we weren't Dish Network, there to upgrade her to Dish's HD.

Apparently, the Dish retailer she originally ordered from made it a standard practice to call their customers once their original contract expired and tried to switch them to the opposite service, so that they could get another full commission. They promised her a "cheap upgrade to HD" but never mentioned that it involved switching from Dish to DirecTV.

She was pissed that we wouldn't take everything out and put her old system back, but once it was activated, there wasn't anything I could do. And it isn't like there was any doubt I was representing DirecTV...

The thing that bothers me most about this is they have my home phone and e-mail address now, so I know I will be contacted to switch. I'll need to tell everyone in the house to tell them to put us on their do not call list and that will take a while (overall it was a cheap lesson in dialing carefully). E-mail is easy to designate as spam.